Crossing the Divide

Introduction

Intergroup Leadership

What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Is Done

The essays in this book introduce cutting-edge scholarship addressing an age-old problem.

We live in a world of difference. We encounter diversity of nationality, political party, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, generation, and countless other categories in all the communities of which we are a part—work, neighborhood, nation, and the world. And we not only encounter diversity, we often run up against it. Social scientists speak of the in-group—the social group to which an individual belongs—and the out-group—any group to which that individual does not belong. The very term out-group brings to mind a sense of discomfort, if not conflict. In fact, leaders ...